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Chapter 5

Five months later

It was a quiet morning in the mission when Nell arrived. She had been up early to do her run and now was in the office. Hetty was already there but the others hadn't arrived yet. Nell figured she'd enjoy the quiet while it lasted. Once Deeks showed up, the quiet would disappear fast.

At around 10 in the morning, everyone's attention was on one person as he made his way to Hetty's office. Assistant Director Owen Granger was in the building and everyone knew it. If Granger was here, then something was up. The two spoke in the office and it had left Nell trying to figure out what the two were talking about. She wasn't the only one. Kensi was trying to read Hetty's lips, while Sam and G were busy betting whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Eric was watching the whole thing play out from OPS on the large screen. But it wasn't just them, it was the entire building.

"Whoever is blackmailing this commander is very smart and very clever. Whoever it is, knows what he is doing at all times. So pulling him out of the Boston Marathon next week is out of the question." Granger was explaining. "Only problem is the members of the team assigned to him in San Diego have no marathon experience. I need your help to track down and assign a couple of agents to run this marathon with him so that at least we have him covered while we handle the case here. You wouldn't happen to know anyone would you?"

Hetty was silent for a moment and Granger thought she wouldn't have the answer to that question. But then, "Actually Owen, we have one person in this office who is a veteran marathon runner. I also believe that our agency has several others scattered across our entire agency. Let me see what I can do."

"Do I know the one here?"

"Actually you do. But not everyone knows she's a runner."

One of Granger's eyebrows lifted in mild surprise. "Oh."

Picking up the phone, Hetty dialed an extension. "Miss Jones, could you come to my office please." She hung up the phone after hearing the young woman's reply. A moment later Nell was at the door. "come on in Miss Jones and close the door."

Closing the door she took a seat next to Granger wondering what this was all about.

"Miss Jones, I have an assignment for you that involves your knowledge of running marathons, I'll let Assistant Director Granger explain the situation to you."

Nell listened to Granger present the case that the San Diego MCRT was involved in and realized that the victim could not deviate from his planned schedule which included the Boston Marathon for which he was set to run in a week. "Would you be willing to run in Boston with him," Granger asked after explaining the case.

"I'm not registered to run in Boston. I would have qualified for this race if I had run the New York Marathon back in November but I never got the chance to."

Granger thought back to November and it clicked in his head. It had been cancelled due to Superstorm Sandy. "New York, it was cancelled two days before the run, right."

Nell nodded, "Yes, I was at the Jarvis Center in New York picking up my race packet when we all got the news."

"Believe me Owen you wouldn't believe the headaches I went through to try and get her there just days after that damned storm hit," Hetty spoke up.

"I believe it, New York should have cancelled that marathon a lot earlier then they did. I'm still wondering why they waited so long to cancel it in the first place," Granger was saying.

"Your guess is as good as mine," spoke up Nell. "A lot of runner hadn't made it to New York by that Friday before the race because of transportation issues."

"Yeah I remember, what a nightmare."

"I saw it first-hand."

"You can tell me the story later, now back to our case. Is it still possible for you to register for Boston," Granger asked.

"I know Agent Bill Carson, he's the head of one of the teams in our DC office and is racing in Boston. I can get in touch with him about getting me in."

"Better yet, how about we get Carson and his team to help us with this. Nell and Agent Carson can run with our commander, and the rest of his team can be back-up," suggested Hetty.

"Jones, I'm starting to like you already. Let's do this then, let's read Carson's team in and make this a joint operation with our San Diego MCRT since they have the lead on this. We can get Carson to help us get Nell registered for Boston and while Carson, Jones and Commander Ingram are running this race, his team to monitor them while they run. We'll also notify our office in Newport, Rhode Island for any additional support that will be needed in Boston."

"Sounds like a plan, then," spoke up Hetty. Ms. Jones contact Agent Carson in DC and inform him of what you need while Granger and I here contact Director Vance and set up a video conference with the Director, Carson's Team. San Diego MCRT. And our office in Newport."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Nell got up and left the office closing the door.

"Hetty you alright with me borrowing her for this."

"Yes I am Owen."

Granger nodded, Nell Jones was a lot tougher and smarter than everyone thought and was a rising star in the agency. "Then let's get to work."

You are welcome to R&R.